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Order of the Temple

Knights Templar
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis
Seal of Templars.jpg
Active c. 1119–1312
Allegiance The Pope
Type Catholic military order
Role Protection of Christian Pilgrims
Size 15,000–20,000 members at peak, 10% of whom were knights
Headquarters Temple Mount, Jerusalem,
Kingdom of Jerusalem
Nickname(s) Order of Solomon's Temple
Order Of Christ
Patron Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Motto(s) Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam
(English: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory)
Attire White mantle with a red cross
Mascot(s) Two knights riding a single horse
Engagements

The Crusades, including:

Commanders
First Grand Master Hugues de Payns
Last Grand Master Jacques de Molay

The Crusades, including:

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers, Arabic: فرسان الهيكل‎‎), the Knights Templar, or simply as Templars, was a Catholic military order recognised in 1139 by papal bull Omne Datum Optimum of the Holy See. The order was founded in 1119 and active from about 1129 to 1312.

The order, which was among the wealthiest and most powerful, became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. They were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded. Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – took advantage of the situation to gain control over them. In 1307, he had many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake.Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip.


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Wikipedia

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